Silvia Panáková - Slovak Producer on the Move 2010

Silvia Panáková foto

Starting off as a television assistant, SILVIA PANÁKOVÁ gradually went through almost all production positions up to the executive producer and producer. In 2003, she graduated from the Film and Television Production and Management department at the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Bratislava. In 2004, together with the husband, she established the production company Arina. In 2009, two of the films on which she worked as a producer reached the theatres.

Selected films

2009: MY HUSBAND´S WOMEN (Ženy môjho muža, SK-CZ-HU, dir. Ivan Vojnár, 85 min. – fiction - producer)
2009: T.M.A. (CZ-SK, dir. Juraj Herz, 90 min. – fiction – co-producer)
2009: BEFORE THIS FILM IS OVER (Kým sa skončí tento film, SK, dir. Tomáš Hučko) 54 min. – documentary - producer)

Upcoming films
TIME OF GRIMASES (Čas grimás, SK, dir. Peter Dimitrov, 52 min. – docu-drama - expected release 2011)
WOLF – ROBERT VANO (dir. Janek Ruzicka , 56 min. – documentary – expected release 2012)
LET LIVE (dir. Ivo Trajkov, 90. min - feature film - expected release 2012)

Contact: Arina, Phone: +421 907 787 945

As a producer you worked, or you are still working, on various projects – a present-day drama MY HUSBAND´S WOMEN, horror movie T.M.A., documentary about one of the most significant Slovak scriptwriters and script editors Tibor Vichta BEFORE THIS FILM IS OVER and the fiction documentary Time of Grimaces about the eccentric sculptor of the Theresian era F. X. Messerschmidt. How do you select your projects?
It is very difficult to decide for a specific project based on a screenplay. The decision depends on many factors, for example who is the project offered by, in which stage the projects is, which filmmakers are involved in it, what is its admissions potential and the objective possibility of production of the particular film in the current conditions of the film industry.

What was it like to co-operate with the significant director Juraj Herz on the film T.M.A.?
It was a big honour for me. We spent some time together and it really enriched me. I have gotten to know an amazing personality and a great professional. If I was offered an opportunity like this again, I would definitely grasp it straightaway without hesitation.

In what stage is your newest project Time of Grimaces?
TIME OF GRIMASES is currently in production. The film is costly considering the story, which takes place in the 18th century. Today, it‘s almost impossible to find usable objects from this period. A greater part of the film is already shot, however, we are still trying to find finances to finish it. I believe that the Producers on the Move is exactly the kind of platform to help us find the right foreign co-production partner.

A good screenplay makes a film. You are the organizer of a screenplay competition titled Tibor Vichta Awards, which has entered into its 7th edition already. What is the quality of the young Slovak scriptwriters?
It is not easy to evaluate the quality of the scriptwriters. The reason I started this competition was my previous experience abroad which I wanted to share with our young authors. We decided to give them a chance to present their author projects and confront them with Slovak, but also foreign professionals (e. g. Martin Daniel, James Ragan, Jan Fleischer). We are trying to help young scriptwriters to improve their writing in the European context and to get a chance to offer their work for television and film producers both in Slovakia and in the EU. We hope that our particular competition will help them increase the quality of their scripts even more.

EFP official website
S. Panáková's profile at EFP

published: May 7, 2010

published: 10.05.2010
updated: 13.05.2010